


Keep running up that hill

by VileVenom



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Angst, Gen, Post-Music videos, Sad with a Happy Ending, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 01:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16460465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VileVenom/pseuds/VileVenom
Summary: Tumblr quote prompt: "You’re not going to starve yourself on thanksgiving."“Just go with Lewis, Vi,” Arthur’s voice came back through the locked door, sounding resigned and tired, “He doesn’t want me there, and I’m fine by myself. Lance was never big into thanksgiving, so I’m not missing anything.”





	Keep running up that hill

**Author's Note:**

> I made myself sad writing this.
> 
> And as per usual, no beta and I wrote this rather quickly, so please let me know of any mistakes.

Vivi stomped her foot on the floor outside of Arthur’s bedroom, glaring the door down, as if she could make it disappear with her sheer force of will alone. “Arthur, come out here, right now! We’re leaving in a few minutes, and you are coming with us, damnit,” she snapped at the door, slamming her fist into the wood a few times.

“Just go with Lewis, Vi,” Arthur’s voice came back through the locked door, sounding resigned and tired, “He doesn’t want me there, and I’m fine by myself. Lance was never big into thanksgiving, so I’m not missing anything.”

“Yes you are! Lewis told me about how we used to go to Pepper Paradiso every year, since my family waits until the weekend and your uncle couldn’t cook a turkey to save his life. And I know you haven’t even eaten yet today, Kingsmen! You’re not starving yourself on thanksgiving because of some messed up guilt complex you still have! Get out here!” Vivi smacked the wood once more, ignoring the slight ache in her palm from it.

“It’s not a stupid guilt complex, Vivi! Lewis and I still aren’t exactly on the best of terms, and you know it. And, yeah, used to is the key phrasing there. When you guys started to get serious, I stopped going to those dinners. Your argument is sort of invalid since you still don’t even have all of your memories back, yet,” Arthur called back.

Vivi let out a shrill cry of frustration at the door that blocked her from smacking the blonde around, and instead opted to storm down the hallway and glare at Lewis, who was sat in their armchair looking somewhat put upon. He jumped when she stomped over to his seat and yanked him up by the cuff of his sleeve. “You go talk to him! He won’t listen to me because he thinks you don’t want him to come, and he’s being a stubborn jackass and locked me out,” she seethed, pushing Lewis to the hallway.

Reluctantly, the purple haired ghost let himself be pushed, turning to watch Vivi go back into the living room to scream into a pillow, before heading to Arthur’s bedroom door with a sigh. While it was true enough that he knew about the demon possession in the cave now, and he and Arthur were fine coexisting in the same household, that wasn’t to say the two of them were even close to where they once stood in their friendship. If Lewis was being honest with himself, he really didn’t want Arthur to go to dinner with them, and had hoped Vivi would drop the whole thing more easily. Turning his back to Arthur still made him uneasy, and he knew his true form left the blonde quaking more often than not. It would’ve been a whole lot easier if he had’ve fudged his recollection of their past holidays and not included Arthur in this particular family tradition. But that wouldn’t have been fair to Vivi.

“Arthur?” Lewis called out, lightly rapping his knuckles against the door, not wanting to barge in on the blonde and potentially startle him, “Arthur, come on. You’ve got Vivi screaming into a pillow. You need to come out so we can get going. My sisters will start to get into the potatoes and make a mess if we don’t get there in time.”

A long pause followed Lewis’ words, before Arthur finally responded. “Just go without me. Please. I’ll be fine.”

Lewis rolled his eyes before simply phasing through the door, the dimness in the room making him blink so his eyes could readjust. He hadn’t been in Arthur’s room since the cave incident, so seeing how much had changed threw him a little. Where there was once car schematic print outs and photos pinned to the board above his desk, now there were only blue prints for his mechanical arm and maps of the area around Tempo, scribbled on with various coloured pens. The tools that were once haphazardly strewn across his desk were now neatly lined up or tucked into a tool box, and the chili pepper lights Lewis had helped him hang around his window ages ago were nowhere to be found. The floor was clean of the heaps of dirty laundry that once covered it, and Galahad’s cage had grown substantially with additions that snaked down to the floor to give the hamster room to exercise, though said hamster was currently in the top corner of his cage, as close as he could get to where Arthur was sat on his floor, huddled into a ball against the side of his bed. There was an open shoe box next to the blonde full of the pictures that Lewis knew used to be up on his pin board, a few scattered on the floor as though Arthur had been looking through them before turning into a ball.

Lewis floated forward to get a better look at the photos, frowning slightly in guilt at the fact that they were all taken during holidays the three of them had spent together. Smiling and happy in every photo, save for one separated from the rest on the floor, with only Arthur and Vivi in it. Arthur looked tired with dark circles under his eyes, though he had a crooked smile on his face for the photo, Vivi squishing him next to her and making a funny face at the camera. She had a tiny candy cane stuck to her cheek, so it must have been last Christmas, while he had been wallowing in the cave. Lewis’ stomach twisted at seeing Arthur in the picture obviously trying to be happy for Vivi, juxtaposed to Arthur now, who had yet to realize that Lewis was even in his room, looking tiny and miserable. The fact that Lewis had even thought about excluding the blonde, after an entire year of working himself to the bone to try and find Lewis, made him want to puke. He and Arthur used to be nearly inseparable, even after he’d started dating Vivi. He’d heard what Arthur had told Vivi earlier, and it hadn’t entirely been a lie. He had missed out on the last thanksgiving before Lewis had died, but it had only been because Arthur had been sick with a bad cold and didn’t want to get the Pepper girls sick as well. Lewis and Vivi hadn’t even stayed at Paradiso long, and had brought Arthur home enough food to nearly recreate the feast set out at the restaurant. He’d never wanted to leave Arthur out, not until now, letting his lingering bitterness get the best of him.

Finally, Lewis took real stock of how Arthur looked. It was somewhat difficult with how the blonde was curled into himself, but Lewis could see how much weight he had lost, with the way his shirt clung to his frame and draped strangely near his stomach. When he’d still been alive, Arthur was certainly lean, of course, but with how he and Vivi had forced food at him near constantly, he’d never looked thin the way he did now. It made his anchor throb against his chest to think that Arthur still wasn’t letting himself heal and get better, even though Lewis was back, and he knew it was in part his fault. He tended to avoid Arthur the same way the blonde avoided him, and with the way Lewis tended to entrench himself in the kitchen, it was really no wonder Arthur apparently wasn’t eating. And Lewis hadn’t exactly made it a mission to rekindle his friendship with Arthur the way he was working on his relationship with Vivi. He’d forgotten just how much Arthur needed them. They were his only family after Lance, and Lewis had been making little to no effort in making sure that Arthur even still considered himself their friend. As a matter of fact, he’d been making an unconscious effort to push Arthur away, with the way he’d been acting.

“Arthur?” Lewis finally announced his presence, making Arthur jump and curl into himself further, ducking his head down to his knees. “Arthur, we’re going to be late. You need to get ready.”

Arthur simply shook his head, wrapping his arm around himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. It made Lewis want to wrap him up in a hug and never let go. Instead, he opted for kneeling next to Arthur and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Artie. Everyone is waiting.”

Arthur hissed a breath out between his teeth, lifting his head high enough so he could speak without being muffled, but not looking at the specter next to him. “Look, Lewis. You and I both know you don’t want me to go and you’re only doing this because Vivi is upset, so just…I don’t know, tell her I’m sick or something so she’ll let you go. I’ll be fine here on my own.”

Lewis unconsciously tightened his grip on Arthur’s shoulder, making the blonde flinch and jerk away, which caused Lewis to pull his hand back as though he’d been burned. He looked contrite as he tried to figure out what he could say or do to soothe Arthur, fretting even as the blonde finally turned his face to look at Lewis, a forced smile on his face and dried tears on his cheeks. “Cayenne is going to insight mashed potato wars if you don’t get going soon.”

Lewis couldn’t help himself when he finally saw just how tired and gaunt Arthur’s face looked, yanking Arthur into a bear hug and nearly crushing the blonde to his chest. Arthur squeaked in surprise, too startled to do much more than lay limply against Lewis. “We’re not leaving without you, Arthur,” Lewis said with conviction, smokey wisps of magenta tears leaking from the corners of his eyes as he felt how thin Arthur was against his chest, “I won’t leave you again. I promise.”

A moment or two passed of silence between the two, before a hacking sob left Arthur and he buried his face in Lewis’ chest, shifting so he was more fully in Lewis’ lap and clutching near desperately to the ghost’s shirt as he cried.

It was a solid ten minutes before either of them moved again, and Lewis was certain his parents were contending with Cayenne shouting for revolution over the turkey, but he figured the clean up later was a good trade-off for mending the bridge he’d nearly let crumble to the ground with Arthur. Carefully he helped Arthur stand and get dressed, watching with morbid fascination as Arthur connected his prosthetic to his shoulder before pulling his shirt on over it, and helped with feeding Galahad, distracting the hamster with a treat while Arthur filled up his food bowl.

“Ready to go?” Lewis asked as Arthur rubbed at his bloodshot eyes, the ghost unlocking and pulling open the bedroom door. Arthur gave a small nod, reaching up to pat Lewis on the arm with his good hand as passed him to walk into the hallway, a hint of a genuine smile on Arthur’s face for the first time that Lewis could recall in recent memory.

“Oh my god, finally!” Vivi’s annoyed shout came echoing down the hall as Arthur walked into the living room and Lewis slowly floated after him. “I’m starving! Let’s go!”


End file.
